This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday in the church. It's the Sunday when churches everywhere are filled with the color red, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, and we celebrate a story from the church's earliest days. On Pentecost we remember how the Holy Spirit came to the early disciples like a "mighty wind" and rested on them with "tongues of fire". Suddenly they were able to speak in the languages they did not know, and all the people gathered around them in Jerusalem, a host of nations, were able to understand what the disciples were saying.
There's a tendency in the church to think that everyone is supposed to learn our language. But if you look at the Pentecost story, you find the exact opposite is true. The Holy Spirit could have easily touched everyone around the early disciples so that they could understand the language the disciples spoke. But instead, it was the disciples who were transformed. They were the ones who learned new languages, ones they could use to communicate with people using the words they already knew.
So why does the church sometimes miss the point?
No, really. This Pentecost stuff is going to be fun.
We often talk about how our church is very welcoming, but new members are few and far between. And often it's true...many churches are extremely good at welcoming visitors who walk through the front doors. But the first place we should be meeting people is not inside our buildings. It's out where they (and we) live.
The Pentecost story reminds us that witnessing to Christ is not about our own convenience. It's about being radically transformed by the Holy Spirit so that we can speak the language (literally and metaphorically) of those God wants us to love and serve. Pentecost reminds us that we cannot sit ideally back and wait for people to learn our ways. We have to be the ones who learn new ways.
So how do we do that? Here are some suggestions:
1. Check out your social media presence.
If this seems like a strange place to start, that might be part of your church's issue. I've heard countless people in churches deride what they see as an over-dependence on social media in younger generations. Facebook, Twitter, texting, and the like are seen as distractions and barriers to community.
But in reality, social media can be a wonderful way to build community. I don't believe it can ever replace face-to-face interactions, but it can help to spread your message. If you talk to your Generation X and Millennial parishioners, in fact, you might find that a surprising number of them found your church via social media. The days of looking in a phone book for a church, or even just knowing where a church is located, are over. For many a Google search will be their first stop in their search for a new church.
So make it count. If your church doesn't have a webpage, you need one now. You can get a domain name for $18 a year and build a page on WordPress, so there is no excuse. And, if you do have a webpage, give it an honest assessment. Is it up-to-date? Are your address and service times clearly displayed? Could a visitor determine whether or not they would be welcome at your church? Is there information about programming and what you believe? Is there contact information? Are there pictures of people and not just the building?
And don't limit yourself to a webpage. A Facebook "like" page is free and a great way to spread the word about your church. Use the page to post updates, photos, reminders, sermon links, and more. Encourage members to "like" and "share" posts on their page. You'll be surprised how a post can go viral in no time. When the daughter of one of my current church's members won a silver medal in the Olympics this winter, for instance, we posted a photo congratulating her. That photo was shared by 72 people and reached over 5,500! It was a wonderful way for our church to share our celebration.
The Facebook picture that went viral.
The Facebook picture that went viral.
Finally, make sure that you have a "like" page and not a Facebook group for your church. A group is fine for discussion purposes, but it will not reach new people. They are not going to join a group of people they do not know. Instead concentrate on putting out clear information, inspiring links, and warm invitations on your "like" page. Make sure that your social media presence exists more for others than yourself.
2. Get out in your community.
Like I said earlier, you might be the warmest church in the world when people step inside of your doors. But for the vast majority of your community, you are just another building that they have never been inside. As untrue as it sounds to those of us who are churchgoers, church buildings are often seen as private clubhouses. Others might be curious about what is going on inside, but it's going to take more than a little bit of curiosity to go in. This is especially true of the growing number of us who are younger and did not grow up in the church.
So instead of waiting for others to come to you, go to them. Get involved as a church in the community. Host events like concerts and lectures. Make your building as accessible as possible to local non-profit groups needing a space to meet. Host AA meetings. Welcome community groups. Provide hospitality to outside youth events. And don't just be a landlord. Be a host. Consider sharing your building as a ministry to the community.
But more importantly, go outside of your doors. Get involved in community celebrations. Serve lemonade and cookies on the lawn if the town's parade is going by your doors. Sponsor a Little League team. Volunteer at youth events. Go into retirement communities. Work with other congregations. Whatever it is, find out what matters in your community and then figure out a way to contribute. You can't serve a community that you don't know and love.
3. Enable your pastor to get out in your community.
The work of representing your church in the community is the work of the whole congregation. It is never just the pastor's job. But, the reality is that the pastor can be a great ambassador. So, as much as possible you want to make sure they have your blessing to be involved in your community. So don't keep them locked up in their office! Encourage them to go out in the world.
I am finishing my pastorate in a small community right now. During this time the church has nearly doubled in size. This is not due to me, but I believe it does have a lot to do with our church being more visible in our community. And that has happened in part because my congregation has blessed me by encouraging me to be involved in the community.
For me this has meant being the chaplain of our local fire department, as well as working with Habitat for Humanity, writing an occasional column for our local newspaper, and more. It has also meant holding community "office hours" in a local coffee shop. Once a week I stationed myself at a table for a couple of hours and bought the coffee for anyone who dropped by for a chat. People who had never come through the doors of the church before met me for the first time there. Finally, when a natural disaster came to our community in the form of a flood, the congregation didn't want me in my office. They wanted me out on the streets talking to people and giving out energy bars and water. (They were there too, by the way.)
Not every church understands this, though. Once when I was in a pastoral search process the search committee ran through their list of questions about how I planned to grow the church. When it came time for me to ask my questions, I led off with what I thought was a softball question: "Do you want a pastor who is going to be actively involved in your community?" The response shocked me. Members hedged their answers, telling me they really weren't sure. To them the pastor was "theirs" and had enough work to do with current members. It was clear for me this was not the right church for me. But what struck me was that due to their inward focus I was sure it was clear to prospective parishioners that it wasn't the right church for them either.
Your pastor can be a tremendous gift to your community. Don't keep them all to yourself.
4. Don't assume everyone knows your insider language.
So let's say everything is going right and new people have started coming through your doors. What do you do now?
Well, first, keep doing what you are doing in terms of being hospitable. Welcome people when they walk in the doors. Show them the sanctuary. Invite them to coffee hour. Make them feel at home. But, also, watch the "insider language" and help to translate what might be new.
I did not grow up in the church so when I started attending as a young adult I was keenly aware of what I did not know. Every Sunday we would get to a point in the service where everyone recited a prayer together. I didn't know it, and I felt like everyone was looking at me as I stood there in silence. It was the Lord's Prayer, and I had no clue what to say.
I learned it quickly by getting a copy and sitting in the privacy my home and repeating it over and over to myself. I didn't want to be embarrassed anymore. But I remember that feeling. And so years later, when I heard members of a church talking disdainfully about how visiting younger people didn't even know the Lord's Prayer, it hit me hard.
From then on I have always tried to print the words of the Lord's Prayer in the bulletin for those who do not know it. The same is true of the Gloria Patri, Doxology, and other "well known" pieces. We should not give up these important parts of our liturgy, but we should be aware that as more people grow up as religious "nones" they are no longer a part of the common language.
Likewise, is your bulletin or worship leader clear about when to stand and when to sit? If you are turning to a certain page, do you announce it? Do you clearly state at the communion table that all are welcome, and let people know whether you are using grape juice or wine (an important consideration for many)? Or are your visitors just left on their own?
It's important to make worship as accessible as possible. No one wants to feel like an outsider. It's the surest way of making sure that visitors won't come back.
5. Be willing to keep being transformed.
Here's the secret no one wants to tell you about bringing new people into the church: they are going to change everything. I actually think more churches realize this than let on, and I believe that, subconciously, a lot of churches have chosen not to grow as a result.
When new people come to a church they bring with them new stories, new gifts, and new energy. They also bring new needs, new ideas, and new perspectives. And your church will be changed by them. Or else it will not be. And they will leave.
We often think of the church as "our church". But it has never been "our church" It is Christ's church. We are just the stewards of the church in this time and place. And when new people are brought into the church, they join us in that role. And even though you may have been their thirty years and they've been there one, they are equally important. And that can be frustrating.
There is a tendency to fall back on "we've always done it this way" in these situations. Resist that temptation. It's wonderful to know our history (in fact, I think if we all knew more of it we'd find that we haven't, in fact, always done it "this way") but we cannot become a history museum. We must be willing to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, speaking in new ways through new voices. That's what being the church is all about.
So when the young families arrive with their kids, let them teach you about what will keep their kids engaged. The old Sunday School models might not work anymore. When young adults come, let them shape their own programs. Maybe they want to meet for a "faith on tap" discussion at the local pub on a Wednesday night rather that for Bible study on Sunday mornings. And when someone brings that new idea to deacons that makes everyone tense up and want to say "but we don't do that here", give it a minute. Hear them out. And ask whether God is leading you into the future. It's scary, but it's also full of promise.
Most of all, this Pentecost Sunday, pray that the Holy Spirit will teach you to be a Pentecost Church. Open your hearts to the ways the Holy Spirit teaches us new languages. And then, let yourself speak them. Meet others where they are, and learn what God is already doing in them. And then, let yourself be transformed. You just may find that you, and the entire church, will be blessed.